GR653 Via Tolosana, last part: Day 13 Lacommande - Oloron-Sainte Marie

Mud, mud, glorious mud
Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood
So follow me, follow
Down to the hollow...
And there we will wallow
In glorious mud!

Michael Flanders & Donald Swan, The hippopotamus song


After yesterday's rain, we were wallowing in plenty  of glorious mud in the Forêt de Lacommande this morning!

We eventually came out into the sunshine with another glorious view of the Pyrenees, closer than ever.

We stopped to eat what little remained of our food supply in a rest area set up specifically for pilgrims and watched a shepherdess take hundreds of sheep out to pasture.

Old boots never die, they just get composted

Passing over the fields above the sheep, we emerged on a hilltop with a view over the Oloron valley. Vultures circled in the sky.

From here we went back into the woods and came out in the village of Goés, following the road to Oloron-Sainte Marie, a crossroads for pilgrims travelling the Santiago/Rome path and the Voie des Piemonts to and from Lourdes.

Quartier Notre-Dame, where our hostel is located

The cathedral

Here we had one last beer with our friend Peter before accompanying him to the train station to return to his home and family. Oloron is the last good-sized town before the climb into the Pyrenees and Spain, and many walkers break up their trips here.

And so our fellowship of the Way begins to unravel.

But on the streets of the town and then at the hostel we found new pilgrims starting here or coming from the Lourdes route. At dinner we spoke with French, German and Canadian walkers and cyclists, all of whom will be heading our way tomorrow, onward and upward.

Ultreya!

Susseya!

Less than one thousand kilometres to go! 

Our resting place in Oloron